Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday issued Law No. 7 of 2017 on allowing Gulf companies in GCC states to open branches in the country.
The Emir also issued Law No. 6 of 2017, amending some provisions of Law No. 7 of 1987 on the rules of practising commercial activity by GCC citizens in Qatar. The laws are effective and are to be published in the official gazette. The law allowing GCC citizens to practise commercial activities includes amendments to four articles.
Article 2 of the amended law states that without violating advantages stipulated in laws and decisions applicable to practising economic activities, GCC citizens as individuals or legal personalities are allowed to practise retail and wholesale trade in the country.
The law stipulated that the citizen concerned must be directly responsible for the activity for which he/she has got licence, even if it is one or more branches, unless there are reasons preventing to do so. For legal personalities, the law said that the company must be fully owned by the GCC citizen.
For retail business, the licensed GCC citizens must do direct sale to customers through shop and those practising wholesale trading are required to import and export the goods.
The Law No 7 on allowing Gulf companies in GCC to open branches in the country states that these branches will be treated equally like Qatari companies in accordance with the rules and regulations.
In order to open branches in Qatar, the Gulf companies must have commercial registration in one of the GCC States for at least three years, and the activities must be among those allowed for the GCC citizens to practise in the country. The company must be fully owned by GCC citizens and the manager of the company also needs to be a GCC citizen with exceptions approved by the department concerned at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
In case the branch of the company failed to respect the above conditions, the Minister of Economy and Commerce has the right to cancel the commercial registration of the company.
Meawhile, Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday issued an instrument of ratification endorsing a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of protecting endangered wildlife and the conservation of its natural habitat between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was signed in Doha on February 27, 2017.
Emir also issued an instrument of ratification endorsing an MoU on cooperation in the field of financial policy and budget affairs between the State of Qatar's Ministry of Finance and the Republic of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Finance, which was signed in Baku on March 8, 2016.
Additionally, the Emir issued an instrument of ratification endorsing the ratification of an agreement on waiving visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, special and official passports between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Colombia, which was signed in Bogota on July 27, 2016.
Emir also issued an instrument of ratification endorsing a draft agreement on air services between the governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of Montenegro, which was signed in Doha on Jan. 29, 2017.
Emir issued an instrument of ratification endorsing the ratification of an MoU on cooperation in the field of standardization between Qatar General Organization for Standardization (QS) and Turkish Standards Institution (TSE) in the Republic of Turkey, which was signed in Trabzon in 2016.
